What Box Got You Hooked on Subscription Boxes?

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I’m so excited to hear your answers to this question: What box got you hooked on subscription boxes?

For me, I first got addicted to subscription boxes with Birchbox is 2011. In one box I got a Laura Geller full sized blush as one of my samples and couldn’t believe it! A $28 item as one of my 5 samples in a $10 box?! More of this, please!

After that box, I created a second Birchbox account so I could get two boxes each month. (Birchboxes have always varied in samples subscribers could receive, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the exact same box in a month.)

And it was the amazingness of the September 2012 POPSUGAR Must Have Box that made me start telling all my friends and family that they needed to subscribe to boxes ASAP! (I’m sure me adding, “You know what, there’s a perfect subscription box for you.” in just about any conversation got a little annoying at times!)

Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She’s been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox, and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have, FabFitFun, and any box that features natural beauty products!

All views in this review are the opinion of the author. My Subscription Addiction will never accept payment in exchange for a review, but will accept a box at no cost to provide honest opinions on the box. This post may contain affiliate/referral links. If you buy something, MSA may earn an affiliate commission. Read the complete My Subscription Addiction disclosure.

Believe it or not, I first became hooked on subscription boxes with the organic foods delivery service that I began receiving close to 20 years ago. I loved the idea of receiving foods that were new to me or that I had never heard of. I thought the whole subscription model was “new” until I remembered that I used to belong to Columbia House and Time Warner music clubs, the subscription music services, way back in the 80’s (possibly 70’s), not to mention Scholastic, the reading club, in grade school. This made me wonder what other subscription services were hiding out there, and it became fun to search for them. Of course, in more recent years, subscription boxes have blown up and become more mainstream, and it thrills me to be able to include more of them in my life. Most everything I use these days comes by way of some sub box or other, and I love that through sub boxes, I get to try products that I normally would not be able to afford. In that way, sub boxes have really improved the quality of my life. 🙂

I found Birchbox and IPSY in the same month….. I thought, well, for $20 per month, I can have both!!!
Then I found Glossybox!!! Right at Christmas time! Wow!
Then!! PopSugar (because of MSA!)
HAD TO HAVE THE Holiday boxes and the Niemann Marcus box! But their customer service was horrible! !
Some where along the line I found Boxycharm.
Then I was watching the Luxor box Subscription on MSA was like OMG!!!
And when sub opened to get the box with the faux fur wrap, I was hooked on it!!!
See my trend!!!!! GlobeIn is also in there…
NEWEST thanks to Haley’s great reviews – Golden Tote!!! But I am spending less on their clothes than I am my regular clothes!

My very first box was a box called “Goodies” that I discovered somehow in like 2012. Then they stopped making a box, so I was like well what am I going to look forward to in the mail NOW? Since then I’ve subscribed at some point or another to Ipsy, FabFitFun, Beautycon, Hampton’s Lane, Pet Treater, Lit Cube and probably some other ones I can’t think of!

Target Beauty Box got me started and then I saw Ipsy and Birchbox adds on Facebook. Honestly think Birchbox is the best. I mean if you review every item you get and role points into purchasing the curated box, assuming no repeats over the course of the year you would be looking at spending $120 for 110 samples or under $1.10 a piece. I figure for every sucky item like that MLK midget lip sample you get something awesome like the smashbox trio.

Hi, My first box was birch box which my co worker and myself signed up for. Then we signed up for Ipsy which at the time had a waiting list. But I stuck it out and now I get Ipsy. But also finding your website got me hooked to a whole different world of subscription boxes like Pop Sugar, Boxy Charm, Glossy Box, Orange Glad, Fab Fit Fun , Julep, and now the small version of Pop Sugar, Target and Walmart

My first was glossy and birch box and now I have over 20- way too many! Funny story…. When my baby girl was first learning to read she said, “Mommy… Your bit*h box came!” I always thought that would be a great name for a TOTM box!

I heard about boxycharm and ipsy, when I googled more info it led me to a couple sites as well as MSA. A few things written that you can’t trust what a lot of reviewers say and open ( the ones followed and watched a lot) So I googled MSA and found a few articles on Liz. Went to MSA and thought…..oh LORD WHERE HAVE I BEEN? I felt I was hiding under a rock, hahaha. Deciding I could trust these reviews I was seeing. I also really enjoyed that I could read the honesty AND honesty of others & finding that people where indeed recieving the same (some variations). I really wanted to get back into playing with different makeup and trying new products. Now a couple months in I probably went overboard ( In my first 2 months I SUB’D 14 but canceled 2..not all for me but family too) but have also restrained myself.
I found so far from the Welcome box FABFITFUN had me!! I received the Spring box and I don’t know how it’s not a monthly but it gives me something to look forward to. I have really enjoyed the 2 boxycharm too and my 1st Bejoux box(lots of compliments wearing the serendipity necklace and earrings they sent) I’m glad I found this site and so happy Liz created it, the codes to save have been a nice as well. I will have to learn a balance to cancel and try new ones. Thanks again to Liz and the entire team behind MSA.

I was shopping on the e.l.f. site and saw the Beauty Bundle. I didn’t know much about it so I Googled it and found a review here. I started clicking through the site and ended up subscribing to way too many things. Now I write for MSA. I would guess I had around 40-45 boxes coming to the house last month…

Although, back in high school I had Cosmetique, so I guess that was really my first subscription box.

I started with Love With Food and Graze years ago. At any given time I could be getting up to 8 boxes, though I’ve paired it down to about 4 at the moment. My favorite is the Cat Lady Box. Love it too much, and my cats do too. I like Goddess Provisions and Yogi Surprise as well. Also tried Chococurb a while (chocolates!) and a few book boxes. I like the food boxes that have samples of healthy or vegan or paleo foods.

I started with the OG Birchbox, way back in the day. Then a few years ago I stumbled across MSA and from there it was PopSugar, FabFitFun, Ipsy, Box of Style (canceling summer though, sadly), GlobeIn, the Target boxes. I did some of the snack boxes for awhile but got a little bored with them, so I stopped. Might go back at some point. Would love to get into a clothing sub but being plus size the options are limited. My first Dia box was a bust, but I’ll try again. Also I’ll say this: swapping is a life-changer! I love being able to get backups of my favorite things and having things I don’t want find a good home. If you’re on the fence because you think it’s going to be a hassle, take the plunge! You won’t be sorry!

You will need to get on the swap wait list. It doesn’t take even a month to be accepted. Once you’re in, you can search by type of product like beauty, jewelry, etc. Some swappers have their items for sale on eBay. You can even search “for sale” on a particular product so you’re not scrolling the listings until you get carpal tunnel. But I will say, in my experience, most listings are to swap, not buy. Some swappers will say they’re willing to sell in their swap listing. Hope this explains it for you 🙂

Birchbox in June 2015. Then Ipsy the next month… Then I discovered this site and have had a scattering of others! I got crazy for awhile, now I’m only on Birchbox (annual subscription up in November) and FabFitFun annual and buying random ones here and there.

Sample Society in 2011. I knew other boxes existed, but never gave them much thought. Then, last year I purchased my first Allure Beauty Thrills box. Out of curiosity I wanted to see the contents of prior boxes. While searching, one thing led to another, and I came across MSA and YouTube un-boxings of various beauty boxes, then it was all over (or I should say just the beginning) from there!!! Thanks MSA!!!! 🙂

I just happened upon grav3yardgirl one day when looking for makeup tips, and I discovered sub boxes existed. I then started looking, and I started with Birchbox and Ipsy. Popsugar is hit or miss, and I think FabFitFun has replaced it as my favorite recently. I will say, if Popsugar still had boxes like the one that got you hooked in 2012, it would definitely be my favorite. It seems like the prices has increased but the item coolness has not. 😉

Birchbox got me started in 2015. Closely followed by Ipsy, Glossybox, Boxycharm, #Lookfantastic, and Morphe Me Brushes. I have tried others as well; FabFitFun, Rachel Zoe Box of Style, Little Lace Box-Serendipity, Goodbeing. From a years worth of subs I have found BB, Boxycharm, Glossybox, and Morphe Me to be the best. BB has started being a disappointment and repetitive. I converted to an annual with Boxy as it has rarely disappointed me. Ipsy has been more misses than hits for me. Glossybox is consistently good but has had a few mehs. I plan to convert to an annual with them as well. Morphe Me is GREAT! I was extremely disappointed in the newest spoiler for the RZ BOS and I am considering canceling it. I just received my FFF for the Spring and love it and when I can afford will convert over to an annual. My #lookfantastic is a 6 month now. LLB Serendipity is the best bang for the buck I have found. The quality of LLB had me sign up for the annual. I am straddling the fence on a few others to try. This site and a couple of others are both dangerous and wonderful for me and thank you, Liz for starting it.

I just got started in February, it was Allure that got me hooked. I am enjoying trying out different products and make up. I hadn’t checked out the new stuff in years!!!! Plus I am a sucker for a good deal(even if I don’t necessarily NEED it 🙂 )

When my first child was born (18 years ago) I subscribed to a toy of the month club as well as a Dr Seuss book club. These items were still usable when I had the next baby 2 years later. When my oldest was 12 we had a third baby so I wanted to start a new subscription for him. We joined citrus lane. I realized through reviews, the subscription world was huge! I began signing up for subscriptions that had coupons. I then realized I could simplify my life with subscriptions and save $. No time for sock matching = sockracy, lunch snacks = Love With Food and graze, daughter in college needs girl supplies = Bonjour Joliet, spoiled dogs = Barkbox, Pooch Party Packs. Christmas and birthday presents, there’s a subscription for that! I could go on and on but then I’d be embarrassed!

I just delved into this world of boxes only a month ago and I’ve tried a ton of different boxes (even stuff I normally wouldn’t) because of this site—I check the MSA app on my phone like every other hour LOL. Thank you so much for all the coupon codes!!

In the last month I’ve tried Candy Club, Nature Box, Energy Supply Co., Ipsy (easily my favorite but been debating on cancelling because I can never resist their offers! Then again I’m sure I’m not the only one that makes the argument of “It’s only $10 though…” lol), Dollar Shave Club, Graze, Simple Loose Leaf, Peaches & Petals, Julep (I had been EYEING this subscription for the longest time and patiently waited until they had that 8-Piece deal—and I just got it yesterday!), Modcloth Stylish Surprise (The one from last week and I just received yesterday as well. I wish there was a page here we could all post what we got from the surprises! But for my first time, the dress was a HUGE hit for me, the shoes were also really cute but living in CA, don’t really need boots for another 6 months.), Geek Fuel (I am not a huge nerd/geek person but I LOVE Marvel and the Avengers and my boyfriend LOVES Star Wars and all that good stuff so it’s a box we share together), Phone Case of the Month, and Try the World (I got the Paris box first and it was AMAZINGGGG, now I’m waiting for the next one they send me which I think it’s Portugal?).

Though I must say, Julep/Ipsy and Try the World are probably my favorites. I went a little crazy last month with all the spending, but I didn’t do any other shopping than boxes and I definitely got my bang for my buck than I would have if I went and got them separately. I almost loved all of stuff I got, and the ones I didn’t, I saved for future birthday/christmas presents.
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Sorry for the long rant hahaa

Oh no – there’s an app!!!!! The addiction thickens!!!! I started in 2014 with Fabletics, then found MSA when doing a Google search. You don’t want to know how many subs I have (Maybe 20? Some months even more). Love, love, love them all & I’ve had wonderful experiences swapping with such nice ladies & gents! Thanks so much Liz! PS – I’d love to hear from those who have tried lots of subs on what is there favorite sub and why? (PSS – I’m frantically downloading the app right now!) ?

My very 1st subscription was to Graze thanks to a coupon in a fitness magazine. I quickly started convincing people to give it a try! I then found Love with Food on Groupon and began wondering what other subs were available. I did a search and it led me to MSA, where I found Birchbox, Glossybox and Popsugar. Popsugar blew my mind and thus began my love hate relationship with the following: post office, the 1st of the month charges, and my love of pretty things. Sigh, I have severe FOMO. I love MSA, it’s like a treasure trove of endless subs to learn about before taking the plunge. Although, I have 6 subs – I’m calling myself a success story, lol!

I signed up for Birchbox and Glossybox at the same time in the summer of 2013. While trying to find coupons or subscription deals for those boxes, I ran across Liz’s site. It was an invaluable resource! In the same month I signed up, Birchbox came out with their Limited Edition CEW boxes. I couldn’t believe the value in those boxes, and they gave a discount to purchase both at the same time. Did I just buy 2? Heck no, my addictive personality that justifies every purchase by the “value” I am getting, incited me to purchase 5 of each box. Within 2 months I had 3 Birchbox subscriptions, 2 Glossybox subscriptions and 7 others. What really made my addiction explode, though, was the inception of Liz’s swap site. I was one of the early Beta testers, and once the site was implemented, I finally had a way to get rid of the samples / items that weren’t the right fit for me, and offered the ability to get multiples of items I love. Sadly, that made my addiction worse! HaHa! Now I could justify buying even more boxes since the value was so great and I could swap what I didn’t like for things I do. I now have over 17 subscriptions, and some of them I get 2 – 4 of the same. You know you have a serious subscription problem when you have run out of space in your house for the things you “must keep”, and you have a room of your house dedicated to storage boxes, shelves, and drawer organizers to store your swap items by category for easy retrieval. I even have a desk setup as a “packaging station” for swaps. You also know you have a problem when you look painstakingly at swap request after swap request, and you keep saying to yourself…”have that, have that, have that”. Those of you younger than me should look into a career as a counselor for addictive personalities, with a focus on subscription box addiction! Could be lucrative!

Well I started a subscription box business in 2015 and had it open for about 1.5 years, I forgot what article I came across that made me want to start it but that was the beginning. After searching the internet for subscription box review blogs, I found this site and discovered so many amazing boxes. I have been hooked ever since. Its way more fun to subscribe than run a sub box by the way, hahaha…

The Loot Crate TIME edition and ZBOX Time Travel box got me hooked. I am a massive time travel fan and these boxes really got me hooked. I now actively watch each geek box and based on the theme and characters that are featured I make a decision on them.

I started with Ipsy because I thought oh what’s $10…. haha! 🙂 I have been getting Walmart & Target regularly since then & I used to have Scent Bird until there were some billing issues when my address changed. I will probably start back with that one after i use up some of the purfume I already have. I literally just signed up for Birchbox so I’m pretty excited for that one! The real addiction is this site though! Because of it I have definitely tried a bunch more than I had planned or even knew about! I got the last Bare Minerals box & I had never even tried that brand before that haha! I also started up Graze because of the free box. Their snacks are delish but I’m not sure if I will continue much longer just because I would rather spend that money on something that lasts longer than a few days. I also follow all your dog box reviews so I can get ideas of good toys to order my pup from Amazon. He is very sensitive to foods/treats so I don’t buy the boxes but we have Amazon Prime so I can just order him a new toy every month & we get exactly what we want with free shipping.

LootCrate! (what? we’re nerds!)
Now we get LootCrate, Loot Anime, Allure, SkoshBox (DekaBox), and my hubby also gets DollarShaveClub. I also just signed up for The Planner Addict Box :O Not only that, but we kinda geek out over our own box shipments, so we’re SUPER box geeks. 😀

I also got my husband into the Dollar Shave Club (he is bald and shaves his head every day) but then I found out that you can purchase straight from Dorco.com (those are the razors that they send) and they are cheaper, plus you don’t have to worry about the frequency of the subscription.
Birchbox was my first box and then somehow on Instagram I saw Ipsy and did a Google Search on sub boxes and found MSA. I am usually someone that looks up lots of reviews before I pull the trigger to spend money on something and I must have looked on several reviews on several sub boxes before I figured out what boxes I could not live without. LOL. I am still trying to figure that out years later but I still always come back to MSA to read all of the reviews, even on boxes that I don’t receive just to live vicariously through others.

I read an article in Cosmo about Birchbox and that’s where it started, that was almost 5 years ago. Then in 2014 I stumbled across this site somehow and found out about all the others. I went crazy at first getting a ton of boxes, I’ve since cut it back to 6, and 3 I’ll let go when their prepaid sub runs out.

I have a huge, huge, huge FOMO problem. But, I also hate surprises to some extent — so it is a weird mix. I started with Birchbox, then got hooked on PSMH, and every once in awhile dabble with a more expensive box like Rachel Zoe or OuiPlease (when will it ship BTW!?). I just like getting a little thing for myself in the mail, and often, I’m pretty pleased.

But…more pleased with things I see that I haven’t subscribed to, which causes the vicious cycle!!

Oh, I have to add that I saw an article about Ipsy first, then I went on the waiting list for more than 3 months… and when I couldn’t get in I googled for other sub boxes (just in case anyone was doing that!) thus… Birchbox (& in all this time have never joined Ipsy!)

Birchbox,in the summer of 2013….Another b’day was around the corner,and I wanted to feel better about taking care of myself.When you start having babies…raising a household…work…You start cutting corners with yourself to get it all done.Boxes helped me get back into being me,the woman.The pay-off is I look better now ,then I did three years ago.

Mine was Birchbox, I’m going to guess it was around 2013. A friend of mine found it and was telling me about. We were both intrigued by such an idea. We’d never heard about anything like that and them BOOM suddenly there were subscription boxes for everything!

Mine was totally Birchbox last year. 😀 Then I found you. I have since added: Allure, Ipsy, Nerdblock jr and Lootcrate. 😀 I also snag up those Target and Walmart boxes. I would totally get more if I could!

Got me hooked and keeps me hooked (just in case you’re wondering that too!)
At first it was the amazing deals & that I’d needed to re-learn about make-up and skin care (that I’d put on the back-burner for years). So, Birchbox first, then the BB5, Glossybox, FFF, PS, Beauty Thrills, Target, Walmart. Then added food. Love with Food, Graze. Then Limited Edition boxes. A few other trials here & there.
Now 2 years later it’s not about getting a killer deal… It’s boxes more unique (to me). Catlady Box, Mightyfix, 54Club, Fabletics, ClubW, Litcube. One item can knock my socks off (ex. the cat umbrella from the latest Catlady box!)

My first ever beauty subscriptions were back in the late 80s with Cosmetique which is still around. (so Birchbox can’t claim to be the original beauty box as Cosmetique has been around since the 1970s. I am still shocked that I can find virtually no You Tubers that use these products. Only one older lady, one video) I stopped my subscription back in 1990 due to money reasons and had forgotten all about them. One day last summer their name popped in my head and out of curiosity I googled to see if they were still around. They were! I got excited and re-signed up for their monthly subscription. Then I got some pop up ads for Birchbox and out of curiosity clicked on it and found out that monthly beauty boxes were a thing. Did some more googling and came across a slew of others. Because I had virtually no makeup that wasn’t more than 10 years old, (I am a nurse so wasn’t in the habit of wearing makeup since I just wear scrubs everyday) I got tired of looking frumpy so I signed up for Ipsy, Birchbox, Walmart because they were cheap. I soon added Glossybox, Boxycharm, Allure, Popsugar, Fabfitfun, elf, Fortune Cookie soaps, Target, and Baby Corn Soaps. Also Treatsie, Candy Club and Cozy Mug. God I’m addicted and going broke LOL.

Birchbox from January 2016!! After that initial one, to now, I have become addicted!! I now get boxycharm, ipsy, birchbox, loot crate lvl up, and target on a monthly basis. I’ve tried out H2BARbox, graze, story surprise, & allure thanks to the recommendations from here! 🙂 I have decided that I am now going to call myself an enthusiast instead of an addict LOL Helps me to feel less guilty subscribing to them all!!! ?

I got hooked on PopSugar Boxes – the monthly subscriptions are so fun – even if I don’t like someone, I give it to a friend or family member – not as a bday gift, but as a “When I got this item, I thought of you” gift. Also, their Limited Boxes are even more special! LOVE LOVE LOVE PopSugar!!!!!

Beauty TestTube was really my first through QVC. But my daughter ordered me a Pop Sugar subscription for my birthday. HOOKED!!!! I signed up for my box and love the surprise of not knowing what’s in the box. I’m up to 10 boxes. MY monthly surprise. MSA is the full Monty new subscriptions. Love you guys and thank everyone for their comments.

Yeah, I agree it was MSA that got me hooked. It wasn’t any one box it was ALL of them. The first boxes I tried though were Citrus Lane, Wantable, and Glossybox. All of which I liked but had to give up due to financial constraints.

I started it almost 4 years ago (crazy!). At the time, I wanted to sign up for as many subscription boxes as I could afford (the name of this site is very fitting). Since a lot of boxes offer discounts if you sign up for a 6-month or 12-month subscription, I knew that would be the way to get the best bang for my buck, but I didn’t want to get stuck with a years worth of boxes I didn’t want. I started searching for reviews of boxes over several months, and couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I thought I’d do it! Then if anyone else was looking for the same thing, hopefully, my reviews could help them find the right subscription boxes for them.

I had no expectations that anyone would use the site I made, so it’s all been an amazing experience since then! 🙂

I got hooked by Ipsy, but quickly realized my love for Birchbox after seeing review after review of amazing products.
I decided to throw in the towel on my Ipsy account last month as my makeup collection got pretty large and I decided to go for the Play! by Sephora box instead. I like that Play! and BB offer makeup/hair/skin products so I can really find what works best for me and try new things. I know Ipsy includes some other hair/skin products, but they were just okay for me, whereas BB and Play! have some things I’ve been wanting to try really bad.
I also love having travel size versions of products (and the subs are a great price – I updated to an annual BB sub during Black Friday sales so I saved a lot, and Play is only $10). Hopefully, I can continue to have will power to resist other boxes!

My very first subscription box was Ipsy. Because it was the cheapest I could find that I was interested in at the time. But the box that got me hooked to subscription boxes was Litcube and Owlcrate!! Now I am totally addicted and wish that I was rich so that I could subscribe to all the book and bookish subscription boxes ❤

For me it was seeing Ipsy adds in my Facebook. That then led me to read reviews of Ipsy before taking the plunge. Which led me to your page and the rest is history…and my credit card company loves me and so does the economy. I’m more addicted to getting mail and opening packages, I think, though.